interesting story, with a nice twist at the end. Probably would have been even more interesting if I'd had a deeper understanding of the related myths. Academic backstabbing and obsession at its finest ( )

I read this because duh, I studied classics. While I was a Hellenist (ooh), not a Latinist, I get a lot of second-hand joy and cringe from the romanticization of the study. Let me tell you kids: studying an ancient language is real drudge work, with memorization akin to a biology class, so the students in these classes are not... cool. At all. They don't even understand dark academia. There's no time for it. We're not really overgrown mythology kids either. We don't wax poetically about meter. We're just nerds who work really hard. One of my old classmates is going into corporate law for God's sake. I'm becoming an archivist.

Anyways, this book was... boring. A bit overwritten. It was suspenseful at parts, and creepy, and I found Prins to genuinely write women well... but ultimately... Meh. For its creepiness, it ends in a semi-appropriate way. But like another commentator pointed out, it takes a certain mind to justify a 27-year-old woman wanting to fuck her older professor. Yuck. ( )

I had never read a dark academia book, so I gave it a whirl. I was intrigued from the perspective of Maeve being a classics grad student, and from the perspective of my many friends that teach at the college level. It was an OK read, but it really lost stea at the end when the main characters does some things that seem to serve a dramatic purpose, but which no one under any circumstances, would ever do. My credulity was strained to breaking. Will probably be a major motion picture one day. ( )

A perceptively written modern day Daphne and Apollo tale on the campus of Oxford University. Mark Prins uses his knowledge mixed with emotion and humor to capture to the academic environment and pressures felt between professors and their students. Tessa must prove herself academically to others despite the efforts of her protégé advisor Chris, who tries through romance to sabotage her work and block her academic pathway. The supporting characters add dimension, perspective and intrigue to his narrative, and provide Tessa with information, support, and clues in finishing and figuring out her situation with Chris. On the other hand there are supporting characters who favor Chris. The details of Tessa’s discoveries, going back to discover the similarities between modern and ancient civilizations, add to the reader’s involvement, and fascination with academia and how success is achieved even with the odds are against you. It may take the reader a short time to absorbed in this modern-day Daphne and Apollo tale, the reader will find it an engaging, fascinating and engaging read.